Here goes the Part 7 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Treasure Hill Artist Village 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 宝藏岩国际艺术村.

Home to veterans of the Chinese Civil War who fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) about 60 years ago, Treasure Hill used to be packed with aging and illegal structures built by the residents. Instead of bulldozing the whole site, the Taiwan government turned the area into a living artists village. It was officially opened in 2010 and now features art studios and exhibition spaces. Some families originally living in the area have come back to share the space with the many artists and tourists that have invaded the community now. Houses of stone and later of brick appeared along the hillside, forming a picturesque scene as they intermingled at different heights. Viewed from the outside, passerbys could see the little hilltop village standing in its solitude as if forgotten by the rest of the world.

Here goes the Part 6 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Daxi Old Street 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 大溪老街.

Almost every small town in Taiwan has an old street these days, but the Daxi Old Street is one of the finer examples. The architecture has been carefully renovated and is really picturesque when it isn’t too crowded.

The Daxi Old Street trip is mainly centered around Heping Old Street. The beautiful scenery along the baroque style old buildings and snack bars that are hidden behind the old streets and in the village render the old street trip an enriching experience. In modern times, it has become a historical place replete with reminders of times past mixed intermingled with modern Taiwanese town life.

Nowadays, it’s hard to imagine how a short block in Taiwan could have two such different styles of old buildings. I just love to spend time over there to enjoy the architectural beauty of the place. Old towns are precious assets to every city, as each possesses cultural significance and its own local spirit.

Hello everyone, A happy start to a new week, hope all of you had a great weekend! I know some of you are anxiously waiting for my next photo blog post on my recent trip to Taiwan, Part 6 of A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan will be released very soon!My travelling spree for Year 2013 has started! Well, i just came back from a short getaway break at Hong Kong over a long weekend. I went over to explore a few more places in Hong Kong which i did not manage to cover in my last April trip. Besides that, the other main reason why i flew to Hong Kong was to check out a book store named - Aco Books 艺鵠 - located in Causeway Bay which two of my travel photo essays to be published in an upcoming creative lifestyle travel magazine will also be put up for sale at this Hong Kong bookstore too! Not sure if you still remember that i briefly mentioned about my soon-to-be published travel photo essays (Haikou & Hong Kong Sham Shui Po) in my blog post November last year.I thought, since i was heading there for some photography shoot over the weekend, i might as well also make a trip down to this place to find out more about the bookstore. Stepping into Aco Books, the noisy summer bustle vanishes and peace descends. Spacious and homey, this little store stocks English and Chinese language books that cannot be found in mainstream publishing houses. I honestly can't wait for that book to be published locally and overseas this Spring soon! :-)

"Aco" stands for Art & Culture Outreach

There will be several photo blog posts coming up soon, please continue to stay faithfully close tune to my photography blog. I will complete my whole Taiwan travelogue first before i blog on some of the places travelled in Hong Kong over last weekend. Other than showcasing my photo pieces through my personal blog, i also have some few photo publication submissions on hand which need to be done within some timeline period. I sincerely hope all of you can continue to show your utmost support and appreciation in my photography work as always! Have a great week ahead :-)

Good news again! A happy start to a great weekend! One of my photos taken at Yangshuo 阳朔 in China, a trip travelled back then in January 2011 (exactly 2 years ago) is being published again in the latest January 2013 Issue of Digital Camera Magazine, the popular leading monthly photography magazine in all major bookstores in Singapore and Malaysia!

The category released for publication in this magazine issue is "Your Mission - Black and White Landscape". It was again a very good chance to see it in print nationwide, yippee ! :-)

Here goes the Part 5 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Danshui Old Street 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 淡水老街.

The town calls itself by the English name "Tamsui”, but the Taipei MRT system calls it by its Mandarin Chinese name, transliterated as "Danshui". "Tamsui" probably comes from the town's name in the Taiwanese language.

Danshui is a laid back waterfront town on the northern part of Taipei city. Historically this is a significant place in Taipei history, where it was one of the main settlements for the Spanish in the 1600s. It was also been influenced by the Japanese during the world war era having established its unique 1900s architecture and infrastructure. It's a great place to just stroll around, grab some great food or just soak in the atmosphere. The interesting thing is that the red line is above ground all the way to Dan Shui, so you can see the city passing by, from super packed urban to slightly more pastoral suburban. The ride reminds me a lot of Tokyo, actually.

Here goes the Part 4 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Sanxia Old Street (also known as Three Gorges Street) 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 三峽老街.

There are just too many old streets in various counties and towns in Taiwan. They were the centre of trade in Dutch or Spain colonial period, Chinese communist period, Japanese occupation period etc. What is so characteristic of these historic places is the the architecture itself. Apart from the Baroque stone cravings, you will also find the old name of the stores that once stood here carved on to the building itself. Walking along Sanxia Old Street brings you a feeling of reminiscence for the good old days. If you like a deep cultural experience in Taiwan, welcome to visit Sanxia Old Street 三峽老街.

Here goes the Part 3 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Yingge Pottery Old Street 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 鶯歌陶瓷老街.

For the past two centuries, Yingge has been known as the ceramics center of Taiwan. The town’s cobblestone-lined Yingge Old Street 鶯歌陶瓷老街, Japanese colonial-era architecture and world-class ceramics museum are all especially picturesque in the autumn sunshine.

Yingge 鶯歌 is a beautiful little area known island-wide for its traditional pottery. The cobblestone streets of Yingge have been attracting lovers of pottery for over two centuries. According to local tradition, the seeds of Yingge’s flagship industry were planted when a potter from Guangzhou Province, Wu An settled in the area 200 years ago. The abundant forests and ample coal deposits around Yingge provided plenty of fuel for kilns and the city is still known for the manufacture of plumbing fixtures and cable insulators, as well as the abundance of ceramic dishware, fine-art pieces and kitsch available for tourists to purchase.

Meaning "parrot song", the name of the town is derived from the parrot shaped rock outcropping slightly north of the town. Pottery and ceramic fanatics will love Yingge. The town lies roughly an an hour south of Taipei by train, and is famous for it's high concentration of potters and ceramic makers.

Yingge, a quick MRT ride out of Taipei, transports visitors to a world that does not seem, at first glance, to resemble Taiwan. Following the brown tourist signs to Old Street, sometimes called Pottery Street, visitors will find cobbled, palm tree lined streets encouraging afternoons filled with casual strolling. This could be any avenue in Europe, with notes of a street violinist drifting in the air and valuable, handcrafted pottery lining shop windows.

Here goes the Part 2 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Wulai Old Street 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 乌來老街.

About 300 years ago, the Atayal ancestors hunted in this area and saw a lot of smoke from natural hot water. Therefore, they called it "Wulai" which means hot springs in their language. It was just their hunting territory; however, because lumber, producing camphor oil, and construction of the hydraulic power plant offered great job opportunities during the Japanese government occupying Taiwan, people gradually moved to Wulai area and formed the village. Now it is a popular spot for soaking in the hot springs after a day hike in this area or on a cold and chilly winter day in Taipei. Furthermore, it has other attractions which catch people's attention.

This place is also known as 乌來老街.I like visiting old streets of Taiwan past. That brings me back in time to the earlier days of Taiwanese living. If you like a deep cultural experience in Taiwan, welcome to visit Wulai Old Street!

Here goes the much awaited Part 1 of my recent trip to Taiwan: A Glimpse of Old Streets in Modern Taiwan - Shenkeng Tofu Old Street 台湾老街漫步遊, 怀旧 - 深坑豆腐老街.

The theme / purpose of the first few blog posts on my recent Taiwan trip is not really to research histories of the old buildings in the photos, but rather piece together what is left at these Old Streets now and then, i.e. travel back in time. If you want to look back on the bygone days of Taiwan, these Old Streets in the first few parts of my Taiwan travel blog posts will lead you to travel through the time tunnel back to 100 years ago. These Old Streets in Taiwan are a tourist avenue where a glossy, embalmed wedge of the past is preserved. The buildings along Shenkeng Old Street are not that old but some of them are several hundred years old from the Qing Dynasty. I hope you will enjoy travelling back in time by browsing my photos and reading my stories in the upcoming blog posts on my recent trip to Taiwan!

I hope you had a great Christmas celebration and, if you had time to spend with your family, friends or loved ones, that you had a wonderful time or, if such occasions are not uniformly a source of joy, that you, nevertheless, found reasons to be happy and grateful.

This year has been unusually challenging for me, so i suppose i am in the company of some others who are anxious and enthusiastic about starting a New Year. It's silly that we put so much emphasis on the calendar, but the symbolism of starting a better future is powerful. I know i intend to make good on my oft-stated platitude that the "best is yet to come".

In my entire year's of photography blogs in 2012, i've tried to put much of my wisdom, reflection and resolutions to be better and enjoy life more. I hope you find value in them or at least try to take pleasure in the little things in life. You realise all these years i love to photo shoot, i love to travel, i love to watch the sunset. I find joy in meeting an old friend, attending a concert at the Indoor Stadium / Esplanade and visiting a wonderful exhibition at one of our museums. I love to read books and listen to music. Reading is an excellent habit. Books keep me company when i am alone. Books transport me to another country, another culture, another time and into the lives of other people. Reading is an endless source of happiness. So is music. I listen to music every day. I thank local bilingual Radio Station 88.3 Jia FM for bringing me so much joy every day.

Lastly, i hardly envy others. One of the reasons which caused people to be unhappy was that they were envious of others. I never envied my friends who had a better education or earned more money or lived in bigger houses or owned more expensive cars. I am contented with what i have which i think this is a good piece of advice for all of you. Philosophically, it would be even better if you could feel vicariously happy when you see your friends doing well in life.

So let me close out the year with my sincerest good wishes that 2013 will be your best year yet! I really hope more of my photography work will be recognised and published in 2013! Cheers :-)